“I Can See Russia From My House,” Only She Really Said It This Time

No, I’m not talking about Sarah Palin. The infamous quote above was uttered by Tina Fey in a Saturday Night Live skit, and was attributed to Palin by many non-thinking individuals, much in the same way as “Strategery”, another SNL creation, was credited to George W. Bush. In both cases, the individual never uttered the words that came to be attributed to them in the popular consciousness, and in state-run media reports. I wonder if Sarah had actually said something like this (which she didn’t) and was a Democrat, if the media would have given it the same attention. Enter Martha Coakley, Massachusetts’ Attorney General. Coakley is running for Senate to fill Ted Kennedy’s old seat, and was asked in a recent debate about her lack of foreign policy experience. Her response was priceless:

So Martha Coakley is qualified to be Senator and has foreign policy experience because…her sister lives overseas? Now, the media reaction to Coakley’s incredible statement in the Commonwealth was…virtual silence. A casual comparison to Palin in the Boston Herald, and no mention in the Boston Globe. So why is it that when one woman talks about Russia’s proximity to Alaska in an interview and it is recast by a comedy show into “I can see Russia from my house”, there is a firestorm, and when another woman talks about the fact that her sister lives overseas as her foreign policy credentials that there is silence? That’s right! It’s because one, Sarah Palin, is a Conservative Republican who threatens the establishment, and the other is a liberal Democrat. Vote Martha Coakley for U.S. Senate, because if she needs to make a foreign policy judgement, she can just call her sister! However, if you want someone who just happens to have a little more foreign policy experience, Coakley’s opponent, Republican Scott Brown, may fit the bill. He just happens to have been a member of the Army National Guard and has served tours of duty abroad. Your pick.